I had a slow puncture and decided to get 2 new tyres on the front.
A nationwide tyre/exhaust company did 2 Avon tyres for the price of one costing a total of £77.00.
Steel wheels 185/65/14.
I did not have the tracking checked when the new tyres were fitted.
Since the tyres have been fitted the car has been veering to the left and shaking at around 70mph.
I have been back to the tyre co. twice.
The first time they rebalanced one wheel and adjusted the tracking. It was adjusted from 3.0 to 0.5.
The second time they said that one wheel was slightly buckled and put the new tyre on the spare rim and the spare tyre on the buckled rim and told me everything should be fine now.
The shake is much better but still apparant.
The car is still veering to the left.
To keep the car straight it is necessary to hold the steering wheel off-centre.
If I let go of the steering wheel it centres gradually (5-10 secs) and the car veers left.
Should the tracking have been done so that the steering wheel is dead centre when going in a straight line or would that require the steering wheel to be removed?
The car was previously fine on it's firestones.
Is it possible that the new tyre(s) could be causing this?
The tyre co. have been helpful so far but I am not sure what to do next.
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>>Should the tracking have been done so that the steering wheel is dead centre when going in a straight line or would that require the steering wheel to be removed?
The garage should have centred the steering wheel and adjusted the track rods to suit, many tyre places have laser wheel alignment now so this is easy enough to do. Did the old tyres have even wear ?. Have you tried swapping the wheels from side to side ? (dont try this if the tyres are directional)
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My old tyres were worn evenly
The tyre co. used a laser alignment machine.
They are not directional, so I will try swapping the tyres left to right tomorrow.
The tyre co. is country-wide. The branch was near work, so I could try another one closer to home this weekend, if there are still problems.
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The veering is unlikely to be a wheel alignment (tracking) problem, as on a rack system, it equalises both sides due to the self centring effect of the steering angles, swivel axis inclination (formerly KPI), and castor. For it to pull to one side there must be an imbalance on the loads on the steering. I would first swap the wheels and tyres from side to side, and see if that alters things the other way round. There can sometimes be a slight difference in the rolling resistance of one tyre compared to another,m and I should think this coulkd well be the cause. The vibration is either likely to be either a balance problem, or the tyre is not round enough. It might sound odd, but you can perfectly balance an egg shaped tyre, but it will vibrate like hell! Check the tyres are fitted properly, and they are round. I had exactly the same problem on a Carlto years ago. I hope this helps.
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That helps very much.
I am not an expert when it comes to cars but have an idea how things work.
Although the tyres are the only thing to be replaced, I could not understand how they could cause the problem.
The front end does not feel right since these tyres were fitted. I work 40 miles away, most of this covered at 70ish on the motorway.
Although the car is quite old, 128K and not very powerful, it is comfortable and smooth cruising on the motorway at 40+mpg.
The veering also happens at low speed, if that makes any difference.
I have always used a local one man band for my tyres but I got the puncture on a Monday, so had to use a place local to work.
They have a 'never beaten on price' promise and I was ready to quote the £45/tyre I normally pay for the Firestones against their £59 when they offered me the 2 for 1 on the Avons. Bargain!?
Should I get them to replace the tyre(s) if the veering changes with the left to right wheel change?
I have also considered swapping the tyres from front to back - The back tyres are only a few months old.
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I swapped the front wheels left to right.
There is an improvement (I think) but the car still veers to the left.
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I have re-read you post carefully again to see if there are any more clues, and I cannot find any! There must be an imbalance some where. Has a coil spring broken letting the car sit down on one side? What caused the puncture, was it hitting a kerb or pothole perhaps bending something perhaps, though I'm sure you would have mentioned it? Perhaps it was a day or two before the puncture, and you had not noticed. Have wife or kids been driving the car, and forgot to mention it! Failing that, I would think the only solution is for a full geometry check, firstly having eliminated any wear in the steering / suspension components. If anything else springs to mind I will let you know. Mike
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sticky caliper is my answer
my nearside one was really bad when it went for the mot last year
the abs compensates big time for this
i repair cars and even i wasnt aware of a problem till the brake test
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Could indeed be a caliper. The affected brake will get hotter than the others - so compare hub/disc temperatures immediately after a run - be careful not to get a burn though!
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Thanks for the replies
No potholes or kerbing. I am the only one that drives the car.
I have swapped the tyres front to rear to fully eliminate them.
I did check the wheel temperatures after a 15 min drive both were relatively cool.
I can hear friction on the brakes on both sides when the wheels are rotated with the car jacked up.
Someone on the Primera forum has suggested
"It could be worn bushes, king pin or ball joint and they should all be checked before attempting to set the tracking. "
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